Los Angeles police detectives are amassing surveillance video and trying to find fingerprints as they search for the group of catalytic converter thieves who killed “Common Hospital’s” Johnny Wactor on Saturday morning in downtown L.A.
Wactor was killed round 3:25 a.m. whereas leaving a bar the place he labored. He encountered three individuals close to Pico Boulevard and Hope Road attempting to steal the automotive half, authorities stated. One of many thieves shot Wactor, 37, earlier than fleeing.
Legislation enforcement sources say police try to drag prints from Wactor’s automotive and are searching for video from the world. Additionally they are checking to see whether or not there are any connections to different close by catalytic converter thefts. LAPD investigators say they’ve seen an uptick in violence when such thieves are confronted.
Catalytic converters, which management exhaust emissions, are usually discovered within the undercarriage of a car and include treasured metals together with rhodium, palladium and platinum. Thieves could make tons of of {dollars} promoting them to auto elements suppliers or scrap yards, the place they are often melted down and the precious metals extracted.
Thefts of catalytic converters skyrocketed in California throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which some attributed to elevated financial misery. The development prompted new state legal guidelines that make it unlawful for recyclers to purchase the elements from anybody apart from the car’s authorized proprietor or a licensed vendor and elevated penalties for consumers who fail to certify {that a} catalytic converter wasn’t stolen.
Police say it’s tough to carry thieves accountable as a result of they can not at all times show that an individual in possession of a stolen automotive half had a job within the theft.
In 2022, there have been roughly 8,000 reported catalytic converter thefts throughout Los Angeles. Numbers from 2023 weren’t instantly out there.
Wactor performed Brando Corbin on “Common Hospital” from 2020 to 2022. He had roles on different reveals, together with “Westworld,” “Prison Minds” and “Station 19.”
Wactor lately had been exploring alternatives in screenwriting whereas working as a bartender.
